Spring Assisted vs Automatic Knives:Knowing the difference
When buying a knife, knowing the difference between an automatic and a spring assisted knife can mean the difference between jail time or freedom. No i'm not being melodramatic. It’s the truth.
Both the spring assisted knife and an automatic knife contain either a spring or a torsion bar that when engaged, opens the blade. Both of them can be opened with one hand but one of them is illegal while the other is legal. Why you ask. Well, although to an untrained eye they both would look similar, there are small differences between them.
The main difference between them is the way the spring is engaged in order to open the blade.
Spring assisted knives
Can only be opened when the user themselves manually open the blade using the provided finger notch, thumb stud, or a fin. Usually these knives require the user to open the blade to upto 30% after which the spring is engaged which fully opens the blade.
Automatic knives
However bypasses all that and can be opened via a push button or trigger mechanism that engages the spring. When the trigger or button is pressed the blade goes from being in a closed position to a fully open position by just pressing a single button.
This small insignificant feature is what makes automatic knives illegal and spring assisted knives legal. Why that is so is kind of stupid in my opinion.
Ban on Automatic Knives
During the 1950s the American white middle class viewed the automatic knife(called switchblades then) as being the weapon of gangsters, thugs, and delinquents. Politicians, newspapers, and hollywood added to the fire and that is what led the congress of the United States to enact Public Law 85-623, an act which states “act to prohibit the introduction, or manufacture for introduction, into interstate commerce of switchblade knives, and for other purposes”
What that basically means is that you can’t make, sell, buy or own a switchblade or automatic knife. The penalty for the violation of this law was a fine of $2000 and five years in jail.
Now that you know the difference between the two, you’ll easily be able to differentiate between them. If you aren't sure then
